


Break and Mend

by GemmaRose



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, lots of Overlands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 17:01:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/889691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack dies in a final way. He goes to the afterlife and there, waiting for him, is everyone he left behind when he died the first time.</p><p>de-anon from rotg-kink</p>
            </blockquote>





	Break and Mend

Jack had never really thought about his staff, just accepted it as it was. It was one of the few constant things in his life, the first thing he'd held as a spirit. Amongst the things which flitted across his mind, it came to him that it was also the last thing he'd held. His vision swam as he looked up at Pitch, the bemused grey face stark against a cloudy sky. Anger flashed in his chest, but the sensation was as short as it was intense.

He was breaking, tearing in two. There was a crack and he cried out in pain, collapsing forward as his lower half stopped responding. Broken spine. A part of his brain noted idly as he struggled to breathe. His hoodie was wet, and for the first time in three centuries Jack felt cold. The ice stung against his cheek, and the hot tears of pain which leaked from his eyes only froze on his cheeks.

Distantly he heard another snap, followed by a high-pitched cry and a much lower curse. _Baby Tooth. He still had to save Baby Tooth. Tooth would never forgive him if he let one of her fairies get hurt_. That line of thought was derailed by a sudden searing **pain** , and Jack's chest heaved as he struggled for air. It felt like he was being torn in two, like somebody was slowly crushing him around the area of his diaphragm. His eyelids fluttered in a weak attempt to open and see what was happening, but it was too much. His chest stilled, and the world went black.

\-----

Jack groaned. His legs ached, his stomach hurt, and every breath felt like it was scraping the inside of his throat raw all over again. He laid as he was until the pins and needles had faded from his limbs, enjoying the feel of the soft pillow under his head. When the uncomfortable prickling had mostly subsided, he began to try and remember how he'd gotten here. Wherever here was.

He remembered the destruction in the Warren, the spat with the Guardians in Britain, begging Wind to take him away. _Somewhere they can't find me. I need to be alone._ He jolted upright, twisting from a loose fetal position to sit with his legs hanging off the edge of the bed. Pitch had showed up, had threatened Baby Tooth, had broken the staff. _Had Pitch killed him?_

Jack looked around wildly, taking in the unfamiliar room. His staff was leaned up against the plain cream wall, and he snatched it up without a second thought. But Wind didn't answer his call, didn't even send the usual slip of breeze that meant he couldn't get inside. Wherever he was, he had to get out, and fast. Baby Tooth still needed him!

Leaping to his feet, Jack stumbled. Something was very, very wrong. His body was too heavy, and his hoodie was gone. Somehow the blue cotton had been replaced with repaired versions of the vest and cloak he'd been wearing when he woke up. He had to lean on his staff when he registered the thing which had been niggling at the back of his mind since he grabbed the staff. No frost. There wasn't a single curl of frost on his staff, not even where his white-knuckled grip should be producing the fuzzy hoarfrost of his frightened confusion. What had Pitch done to him?

There was a creak, and a door opened that he hadn't realised was there. "Jack?"

He stopped breathing for a second at the voice, so achingly familiar. The same voice which had lured him to Pitch's lair. He spun, and nearly fell over, still unused to his new centre of gravity. "Emma?" the name felt right as he said it, and Jack realised that he knew the young woman who stood in the doorway. His sister, the little girl he'd given his life for, the one he'd saved those hundreds of years ago on the not-so-well-frozen pond.

Her face lit up, and when she rushed to hug him Jack returned her embrace eagerly. She could touch him, she believed in him still, he'd saved her and here she was, a beautiful grown woman. Pulling away, Jack managed to wipe the hot tears from his eyes. "You got so tall." he mumbled, looking ever so slightly up to meet her eyes. "Mom always did say you would take after Papa."

Emma grinned and slipped her hand into his free one, tugging him towards the door. "C'mon, Jack. You've gotta meet Giles and Juliet. Oh, and everybody else too. Phillipa has been dying to see you."

Jack grinned as his sister led him out of the room, trying to put faces to the names she was rattling off. Giles, the baker's son. Phillipa, his wife. The rest of the names he was clueless about, but he smiled all the same. "You married the baker's boy?"

Emma nodded. "Oh, and I almost forgot, whatever you do don't ask about Jack's scar. He doesn't like to talk about it."

Jack raised an eyebrow, but let his sister pull him down an unadorned white hallway. "So our whole family is here?"

She nodded. "You'll love Jamie Senior. He insists we call him that, even though he's the youngest. Loves telling us how much the world has changed, and how wonderful his own kids are. I fell kinda bad for the guy, honestly."

Jack tuned out, looking instead at the doors they were passing. They seemed to be labeled with family trees, with one or two blocks highlighted on each one. They stopped in front of an unadorned set of silver double-doors, and Jack looked at Emma when she stopped talking.

She smiled at him, and he grinned back nervously. "Ready?"

He nodded, resting his staff on his shoulder. "Ready."

She touched the doors, and they swung open to reveal what looked like an enormous sitting room, filled with the chatter of generations of family members. Five people were standing by the doors, and Jack beamed at them. His mom and dad, his brother-in-law, his wife, and- he smiled even wider. "You must be Jack."

The other young man nodded, and gave Jack a hug. "It's so nice to meet you, dad." he whispered, and within seconds Jack found himself at the centre of a group hug.

Maybe dying was worth it, to finally meet his family.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm running on a lot of headcanons here, so I'll do my best to explain.  
> \- Jack was married when he died, since it wasn't uncommon in those times to be married by the age of 16-18. The other Jack is his son, who was born sometime after he drowned.  
> \- Emma is taller than him because he died before hitting his final growth spurt.  
> \- Jamie Senior is, in fact, the Mr. Bennett we never see in the film. It's stated in the art book, I believe, that Jamie and Sophie's mom is a single parent. I believe that their father was a soldier who died overseas.  
> \- Unless you died young, in this version of heaven you are physically 25.  
> \- Everyone has a room in the hallway, with the newest branches of the family tree being closest to the large hall.


End file.
